1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prize acquisition game machine to be installed in a game center or the like so as to grip a prize to acquire it, a gripper for the game machine provided with at least one pair of hand members for taking out a prize disposed the prize acquisition game machine one by one, a prize suspender for suspending the prizes in the prize acquisition game machine body, and a game machine having a function to change the play fare and number of time to be played, and the operators (players) can visually confirm the play fare and number of time to be played.
2. Related Art
A game machine for commercial use in which dolls, candies or capsuled toys are juxtaposed on the floor surface so that they may be picked up, as disclosed in Examined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7-112513, and a game machine in which prizes are placed on shelves so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in FIG. 28, and a game machine in which prizes suspended therein so that they may be gripped and acquired, as disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446 have appeared and become popular.
Even in the game machine of the second example in which recently popular prizes are placed on the shelves so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in FIG. 28, or the game machine of the third example in which the prizes are suspended so that they may be gripped and acquired, as shown in FIG. 29, a variety of prizes have to be simultaneously accommodated to satisfy the various needs of the player for the prizes, and a various devices have been made in response to the diversities of the prizes. In a suspension type game machine, as detailed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446, the prizes, as suspended from horizontal rod-shaped retaining means by strings or chains and ring members, are acquired by controlling the position of a drive mechanism unit which is made movable in three X (transverse), Y (vertical) and Z (longitudinal) directions with respect to a casing and provided with grip means integrally. It is then computed what portion of a prize is to be grasped by pawls for gripping it. It could therefore be said to be absolutely arbitrary whether or not the operation is in the state in which the prize is naturally readily available to be take out and acquired from the retaining means.
Accordingly, in addition to the control inability of the player or customer, if the aimed prize has a shape and material difficult to be gripped, an extremely high frequency of the failure in the acquisition would disinterest the player. As in Examined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7-112513, if a prize which is not aimed at by the player but stored in the game machine is delivered, the player would be disinterested. If the frequency of drops increases due to the failure in the acquisition, the installer is required to collect the fallen prizes frequently, which would raise a problem of management cost.
Conventionally, there is another prize acquisition game machine (i.e., the so-called "crane game machine") in which a gripper suspended by a string member is vertically moved to pull up the prize placed on the bottom in the game machine. As disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446, there is still another prize acquisition game machine 301 (as shown in FIGS. 68 to 70), in which a gripper 303 is moved horizontally or vertically by an expander 302 to acquire either a prize 300 suspended from a suspending member in a prize acquisition game machine 301 or a prize 300 placed on the bottom surface.
The gripper 300 to be employed in these game machines has at least one pair of hand members 306 and 306 to be opened/closed for gripping the prize 300. These paired hand members 306 and 306 are turnably mounted mainly to a gripper body 305.
As disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 8-112446 and shown in FIGS. 126-128, there is also a prize acquisition game machine 650 in which prizes P suspended in a game machine body 651 are individually taken out by prize gripping means 660 composed of a pair of pawl members 661 and 662, as shown in FIG. 128. In this prize acquisition game machine 650, the prizes P are suspended by a prize suspender 653 which is mounted to a back plate 652.
This prize suspender 653 of the prior art is constructed to include a rod-shaped member 654 and a conical drop preventing member 655 mounted on the leading end of the rod-shaped member 654. The prize P is composed of a prize body P1, a ring P2, and a string P3 joining the ring P2 and the prize body P1 so that it is suspended from the prize suspender 653 by hooking the ring P2 on the rod-shaped member 654.
This prize acquisition game machine 650 is activated when a coin is inserted into a coin insertion slot 656. When a transverse control switch 657 and a vertical control switch 658 are depressed, the prize gripping means 660 is moved to a desired height and then is automatically moved forward to the vicinity of the prize P. Then, the paired pawl members 661 and 662 are automatically closed so that the prize gripping means 660 is returned to its original position with the pawl members 661 and 662 being closed, no matter whether or not the pawl members 661 and 662 might grip the prize P.
When the prize gripping means 660 restores the original position, the paired pawl members 661 and 662 are automatically opened to fall the prize P, if they grip it, into the recovery mouth of the game machine body 651. The prize P thus fallen into the recovery mouth is moved to a take-out mouth formed in the front face of the game machine body 651, so that the prize P can be taken out from the take-out mouth.
As described above, the prize P is disposed in the game machine body 651 and is gripped and delivered by the paired pawl members 661 and 662 of the grip means 660. When the prize P is gripped and pulled to this side by the paired pawl members 661 and 662 of the grip means 660, the ring P2 is slid along the upper edge of the rod-shaped member 654 and the upper edge of the drop preventing member 655.
There is also a prize acquisition game machine 670 having the structure in which the prize suspender 653 is mounted to one side of a turnable member 672 mounted rotatably in a game machine body 671, as shown in FIG. 127. In this prize acquisition game machine 670, while the prize P is being suspended by the prize suspender 653 and turned by the turnable member 672, the prize gripping means 660, as composed of the paired pawl members 661 and 662, as described above, is controlled by the control means so that the prizes P being turned can be individually gripped and taken out by the paired pawl members 661 and 662.
In the conventional game machine for commercial use, on the other hand, the play fare and number display means displays it with a printed seal in the vicinity of the coin insertion slot, as shown in FIG. 133. Specifically, there are displayed a "coin insertion slot seal" 720, "play fare indicating seals" 750a and 750b, and "play number indicating seals" 751a and 751b. These displays are either adhered at the time of manufacturing the game machine or adhered when the seals (backed by an adhesive) attached to the game machine and shipped to a game center are adhered at the time of installing it in the game center or the like.
In the construction of the conventional game machine for commercial use, at the change of players at the end of a game, for example, the prizes having failed to be acquired will be scattered on the floor surface. Since kinds of the fallen prizes show tendency, a new player is worried about the possibility of acquiring the kind of prize and disinterested by the indication of the prize selection. For the installer, on the other hand, there may arise an undesired situation in which the management cost for collecting the fallen prizes scattered on the floor surface is raised.
In the gripper 303 shown in FIG. 69, on the other hand, the hand members 306 and 306 formed integrally cause a problem that it is impossible to adjust the angle of opening of the hand members 306 and 306 in accordance with the size of the prize 300 or to change the shape of the hand members 306 and 306 in accordance with the shape of the prize 300.
Especially when the paired hand members 306 and 306 are to be opened/closed by the drive motor, the opening angle changes with the power supply time period of the drive motor so that a small prize P cannot be gripped if the opening angle is adjusted for a large prize 300. If the opening angle is adjusted for the small prize 300, there arise problems that a serious load is applied to heat the drive motor and that the hand members or gears are broken or the prize 300 is broken, when the prize 300 to be gripped is larger. Thus, the prize acquisition game machine 301 employing the conventional gripper 303 of the prior art is accompanied by a problem that the sizes and shapes of the prizes 300 to be accommodated therein are substantially identical to lose the interest.
A gripper for game machine has been desired, which is enabled to lighten the load on the drive means such as a drive motor by the elastic deformation of elastic members even for a large prize requiring an opening angle larger than that of the paired hand members, because the drive force of the drive means such as the drive motor is transmitted through the elastic members to the hand members, and to change the shape of the hand members in accordance with the shape of the prize because the hand members are bendably constructed of at least two members.
As shown in FIG. 128, moreover, the conventional prize suspender 653 is constructed to include the rod-shaped member 654 and the conical drop preventing member 655 mounted to the leading end of the rod-shaped member 654, and the distance R0 from the axis 665 of the rod-shaped member 654 and the leading end outer circumference edge 666 of the drop preventing member 655 is fixed. As a result, the slope gradient of the upper edge of the drop preventing member 655 is unchanged no matter what direction the drop preventing member 655 might be turned in, so that the difficulty in removal (or difficulty in the acquisition) of the prize P cannot be changed.
This raises a problem that a player skilled in the play of the prize acquisition game machine 650 or 670 can easily remove (or acquire) the prize P by operating the prize gripping means 660 but a player unskilled in the play of the prize acquisition game machine 650 or 670 or a young child finds it extremely difficult to remove (or acquire) the prize P. Thus, a prize suspender which can automatically interchange the structures in which the prize P is removed easily or with difficulty has been desired.
On the other hand, the conventional prize suspender 653 is followed by a problem that the suspender 653 makes it easy to get (or acquire) the suspended prize P thereby to deteriorate the game fun if the prize P has a shape and material to allow an easy grip by the prize gripping means 660, and makes it difficult to get the prize P thereby to disinterest the possible players if the prize P has a shape and material difficult for the prize gripping means 660 to grip. Thus, a prize suspender which can be automatically interchanged to a structure in which the prize P is removed with difficulty if the prize P to be suspended has a size and material easy for the prize gripping means 660 to grip or is expensive, or to a structure in which the prize P is removed easily if the prize P to be suspended has a size and material difficult for the prize gripping means 660 to grip or is inexpensive is desired.
A prize suspender for game machine has been desired, which is capable of automatically changing and adjusting the degree of difficulty in the acquisition of prizes.
With the construction of the conventional game machine for commercial use thus far described, when the play fare is to be set lower by a game center for a special day (or event day) such as the Child's day or the celebration day of establishing the game center, the controls of the game machine are changed by setting the play fare setting means (generally using dip switches) packaged in the game machine, so that the displays visible to the player are manually changed each time in the display of the fare by adhering seals of different display fares, as attached in advance to the game machine, or by preparing the display seals at the game center and adhering them.
Likewise, the number of play times is also changed by setting the number of play time setting means, as packaged in the game machine, and the seals and so on are newly adhered for the displays visible to the player.
In the method of the conventional arts thus far described, works are required for applying the seals to the game machine at each change of the play fare and the number of play time, thus causing a problem that the management cost at the game center is added. Moreover, the preparations of the seals at the game center are followed by the rise in the management cost at the game center, thus, improvements have been expected. In addition to the aforementioned problem of the management cost, the preparations of the seals at the game center are followed by a problem that the design of the game machine is deteriorated.
When the play fare and the number of play time of the game machine was changed, game credit (i.e., the number of games to be played by the money inserted) display means (e.g., 7-segment LED) has generally been used to confirm it. In this example, the machine is changed at first into a confirmation (or check) mode by controlling switches in the game machine, to display the results of setting the play fare and number of time in the credit display means. Since the credit display means generally employs only one 7-segment LED 703a as shown in FIG. 133, however, the results are so encoded as can be understood by one figure, as shown in FIG. 134. This requires a complicated troublesome work for confirming the code table and raises a problem that the confirmation is not done at the place of the game machine or that an error in the setting cannot be found out.